Thursday, February 28, 2013

In light of this year’s upcoming International Women’s Day
on March 8th, our staff at GlobalWashington
would like to call attention to the work that is currently being done by local
nonprofitsto better the lives of women
around the world. We are a membership association of organizationsaround Washington State that work in
international development. Every year we celebrate InternationalWomen’s Day as an opportunity to highlight
the struggles that women must face worldwide and thevictories that have been won in the fight for
gender equality. While many of our member organizationsstrive to improve the lives of women, this
year we are particularly impressed by the work of theMangrove Action Project (MAP), who has been
able to apply its environmental cause to assist women inrural Thailand.

Co-founded in 1992 by Executive Director Alfredo Quarto, Ian
Baird and Pisit Charnsnoh, MAPbegan as
a whistle-blowing organization dedicated to educating people about the dangers
of shrimpaquaculture, which is
responsible for the destruction of thousands of hectares of mangrove forestsaround the world. The mangroves – uniquely
adapted trees that grow in saline areas along the coast– are vital coastal forest ecosystems that
act as wind and flood barriers, soil stabilizers, pollutantabsorbers, and are home to 75% of all
tropical commercial fish. Hoping to reverse their degradation,MAP seeks to educate people about mangrove
ecology and serve “as a sort of megaphone” forindigenous peoples whose lives depend entirely upon the wellbeing of
their coastal mangroves.

After more than a decade of working with fishing communities
overseas, in 2009 MAP reachedout to
women on Phra Thong Island, Thailand to start a new kind of project. Teaming up
with displacedfamilies who had survived
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, MAP trained the women in tie-dyeing fabricsusing dyes made from mangrove bark and the
leaves of native plants. They also showed them howto plant additional seedlings, so that these
materials will remain in good supply indefinitely and willnot destabilize the local ecosystem.

These women have since gone on to form the collective “MuhdYom Koh Phra Thong” – meaning “Tie-dye Phra
Thong Island” in Thai – which provides them withsupplementary income that gives them
financial independence and helps them support their families. Italso gives them a greater sense of autonomy,
as they are now using the collective to create new designsand practical products based on local
knowledge and culture.

Anyone wishing to learn more abouttheir work firsthand can visit the community
through Koh Phra Thong Lion Homestay – a new tourismprogram organized by the collective - which
allows outsiders to support their cultural and conservationefforts while enjoying the natural beauty of
the island. To make donations to this group or read moreabout them, please see their website: womens-tie-dye-group.Those of us here at Global Washington are
grateful to MAP for its ongoing conservation workoverseas and its commitment to helping
empower women.

Over the past several years, MAP hascontinually taken tangible steps to help
create positive changes in the lives of women that allow them toclaim greater independence within their
families and communities. Their work is an excellent example for us all.

The president of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodolfo
Dorador announced that the modification of Article 60 in Law TER General
Wildlife (LGVS), which protects mangroves in Mexico, at the request of
employers, who argue that along with the Mexican Official Standard 059 which
reclassified the mangrove category, inhibit the development of tourism and
investment.

"Let's just get to 60 TER squarely to stop being an impediment and entrepreneurs
can build in the mangroves," he said in the context of the meeting between
representatives of the country's leading business organizations and members of
the committees of Tourism of the House of Representatives and Senators, local
legislators and members of the Legislative Council of Tourism (Conletur).

During the first day of formal activities XI National Tourism Forum, held in
Cancun, the president of the Mexican Resort Development Association (AMDETUR)
Romárico Arroyo Marroquin, was referred to the time when the legal framework
allowed removing mangroves, offsetting the extent to reforest mangroves
elsewhere (via mitigation).

Article 60 TER, which passed in February 2007, restricted
development and use in wetland areas, namely, mangrove. This proposed amendment
will alter this article.

"This is a single paragraph, probably the most adverse for tourism, as it
hampers the activity," he said, adding that the wording of 60 TER is
ambiguous and leaves room for discretion.

The businessman said there was no scientific evidence to support the emergence
of the article that protects mangroves, although worldwide there is ample
scientific studies realize its importance and its environmental, economic,
social and security for coastal dwellers, asked not to misunderstand the request
to make changes to the controversial articles.

"That is not going to cause problems," he said.

Taking the floor, the chairman of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of
Deputies, Rodolfo Dorador, read the request from various business organizations,
which asked the Legislature to do an "passionate analysis."

He acknowledged that he would personally review and promote the eventual
amendment of Article cited for entrepreneurs "so they can get into the
mangrove zones to build" because the current regulatory framework is
affecting tourism development in the country because of the "ban" on the
use of these same zones “mangle.”

The senator, Felix Gonzalez Canto, spoke in favor of the promotion of change
and stressed that "in no way seeks to remove protection from the mangroves"
or "harm the environment", but mainly to "improve" the corresponding
legal framework.

Gonzalez Canto, governor of Quintana Roo, led a group of governors in issuing a
nationwide call for change in the law back in in February 2007 to ask the then
President, Felipe Calderon, to veto the adoption of reforms that led to 60TER;
however, the same day the article came into force and was published in the
Official Journal of the Federation.

Thailand makes up $1.2 billion (€901 million) of the $4.5
billion (€3.4 billion) in shrimp the United States imports, according to data
from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), so any hits the industry
takes directly affects the US market.

In the past year, the industry has been hitby disease, possible countervailing duties
and the rise of Ecuadorian production, so 2013 is sure to be a tough one for
shrimp prices in the United States, Jim Gulkin, managing director at Siam
Canadian, told IntraFish.

He predicts Thai shrimp production will be down 40 to 50
percent during the first half of 2013. If the country has a good recovery --
and he stressed that's a big if -- and makes up some ground in the last six
months, the whole year will still be down 25 to 35 percent in production.

Although the United States is increasingly turning to
Ecuador, a source familiar with both the US and Asian shrimp industries, one
source told IntraFish other Asian countries are also picking up some of the
slack.

"The good thing is that there are some other
countries in Asia that are picking up, such as India and Indonesia,” the source
said.

As for the possible imposition of countervailing duties,
Gulkin said the "general consensus" in

Thailand is that it won't be affected much even if they
are put in place.

"There isn't much in the way of subsidies or aid ...
in the Thai seafood industry," he said. "The government is pretty
much hands-off. They let business run business and they don't offer much in the
way of financial support."

China does have more governmental support, Gulkin said,
but there are only two Chinese processors in any position to ship shrimp to the
United States.

"All the other processors' anti-dumping duties are
so high that they're simply blocked from shipping to the United States,"
he said. "In general, the industry in China [also] won't be severely
affected [by CVDs]."

As for the other Asian shrimp-producing nations, he said,
there isn't much known about how it would affect Indonesia and Vietnam, but he
does think India gets subsidies and, therefore, will be hit if duties are
imposed.

What does all this mean for prices in the United States?
In short -- they will be high, at least until the end of 2013.

The source in the shrimp sector said if CVDs are put into
place, they "will create more of a confusion in the market," for two
to three months, because producers and exporters will not have built the cost
into their pricing. The source believes this will have a negative impact on
prices and they will rise 3 to 5 percent in the summer, but "after that,
by the holiday season, prices will start normalizing."

Gulkin isn't sure prices will be normal anytime this
year. He said certainly, Thai shrimp prices will be higher, as will those of
Vietnam and Indonesia, both of which are also having disease issues.

He called India "a wild card. We don't know how
they're going to do but if they end up with a high countervailing duty, prices
will be very high."

"Prices are going to be much higher than they have
for the past three or four years," he said. "But historically, these
prices aren't even that high; 10 to 12 years ago, prices were much higher.
People are getting a little bit spoiled by these cheap, cheap prices."

As for Ecuador moving in on Thailand's turf, Gulkin isn't
too worried.

"The shrimp industry tends to be cyclical," he
said. "Thailand has a long history of being a very reliable producer, both
quality-wise and in terms of shipping, therefore a lot of major retailers and
foodservice users kind of feel more comfortable working with Thailand than
other countries."

He said at its finest, Thailand produces 600 to 700
metric tons of shrimp per year and has the advantage of being able to produce
hundreds of containers of a single size shrimp, something other countries
cannot mimic.

"I don't think [the rise of Ecuador] will be
permanent," he concluded. "When it comes back, Thailand will be back
in the game. It's about being able to produce the right product at the right
price."